Green Dragon (2002)

61% of critics liked it
(28 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(1,519 ratings)

In 1975, as the war in Vietnam finally draws to a close, a number of Vietnamese refugees seeking new homes in the United States find themselves housed at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in California, where Sgt. Jim Lance (Patrick Swayze) is put in charge of their care. Lance is a compassionate man… More In 1975, as the war in Vietnam finally draws to a close, a number of Vietnamese refugees seeking new homes in the United States find themselves housed at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in California, where Sgt. Jim Lance (Patrick Swayze) is put in charge of their care. Lance is a compassionate man who tries to afford the refugees as much dignity and respect as is possible; frustrated by his inability to speak with them directly, Lance strikes up a friendship with Tai (Don Duong), who worked with the U.S. Army as a translator during the war and now wants to settle in America. Tai helps Lance speak with the refugees, and coaches him in conversational Vietnamese. Tai and Lance soon come to realize how much they have in common, and how they are both still coming to terms with the emotional scars inflicted upon them by the war. Tai is looking after his nephew Minh (Trung Nguyen) and niece Anh (Jennifer Tran), who are waiting for their mother to arrive, but Tai is tortured with guilt, convinced he should have given her his seat on the flight to California. Lance, on the other hand, was stationed in America while his brother fought and died in Vietnam, and Lance believes he should have taken his brother's place. Meanwhile, Minh spends his days looking after Anh and wandering the camp; he strikes up a friendship with Addie (Forest Whitaker), a cook at the camp with a passion for art. Together, Addie and Minh try to brighten the refugees' area by creating a large and colorful mural that symbolizes the multicultural America they dream of. Green Dragon was written and directed by Timothy Linh Bui, whose brother Tony Bui helmed the acclaimed drama Three Seasons, which examined life in contemporary Vietnam. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Timothy Linh Bui
Written By: Timothy Linh Bui, Tony Bui
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jan 19, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Sep 10, 2002
Studio: Silver Nitrate Films

Critic Reviews

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
An honest, sensitive story from a Vietnamese point of view.
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News
Earnest, unsubtle and Hollywood-predictable, Green Dragon is still a deeply moving effort to put a human face on the travail of thousands of Vietnamese.
Gene Seymour, Newsday
Just when the movie seems confident enough to handle subtlety, it dives into soapy bathos.
Megan Turner, New York Post
A lyrical, bittersweet film about what could be termed a by-product of battle.
Dave Kehr, New York Times
Drives for the same kind of bittersweet, conciliatory tone that Three Seasons achieved but loses its way in rhetorical excess and blatant sentimentality.
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
The images are usually abbreviated in favor of mushy obviousness and telegraphed pathos, particularly where Whitaker's misfit artist is concerned.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Revisiting the painful aftermath of Vietnam from the perspective of American-bound refugees, Timothy's film is an honorable if not great companion piece to his brother Tony's Three Seasons; both films played at the Sundance Festival dramatic competition
Clint Morris, Moviehole
One of the best films of Swayze's Career....Not to be missed
Ron Wells, Film Threat
I've yet to find an actual Vietnam War combat movie actually produced by either the North or South Vietnamese, but at least now we've got something pretty damn close.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
a beautiful, moving piece of cinema. After a while you'll be totally immersed in some of the intriguing characters on screen - wondering what's ultimately going to happen to them all
Kim Morgan, Oregonian
The film's bathos often overwhelms what could have been a more multifaceted look at this interesting time and place.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
An inspiring and heart-affecting film about the desperate attempts of Vietnamese refugees living in U.S. relocation camps to keep their hopes alive in 1975.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Flawed but worthy look at life in U.S. relocation camps.
Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
Plays as hollow catharsis, with lots of tears but very little in the way of insights.